You don’t need us to tell you that spelling words correctly is not always easy. For evidence, you only need to look at the word mispelled … and then look again because we just misspelled it!
But even when you get everything just right, sometimes things just feel off. There are certain words out there that—even when all of the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed—just don’t look right. It might be a silent letter that we really think should speak up, or it could be just that the letter Q bothered to show up at all for once. Whatever it is, there are certain words that just look wrong even when spelled perfectly.
We asked via Twitter what words made our readers’ skin crawl despite being spelled exactly as they are supposed to. The words colonel, receipt, and choir were strong contenders but just managed to avoid our ire for the moment. If those words gave you goosebumps, you may need to brace yourself for this list. These egregious words really should reconsider how they present themselves.
We asked:
Maybe it’s the spelling. Perhaps it’s the pronunciation. It could even be the definition.
What is a word that just feels… wrong? pic.twitter.com/5bBY74WX74
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) April 13, 2022
You answered:
1. We’re still not going to call it Hump Day and you can’t make us.
Wednesday. My brain jams when I see the spelling.
— Cathryn Warren (@crwarren) April 13, 2022
2. It really should be mandatory that the word moist is always accompanied by a series of disgusted emoji.
Moist. 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢
— Michele (@prettyinpink668) April 13, 2022
3. This word should have to go to the back of the line.
Queue. Enough said.
— PackFan in MN (@VanHazinga) April 13, 2022
4. We aren’t done yelling at the letter Q yet.
I have stared at the word ‘quiet’ today and genuinely started questioning everything like it just looked w e i r d
— 𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑒-𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒 {ᴛxᴛ8 ɪs ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ!!!} ✘⁷ (@beomgyureum) April 13, 2022
Cay and quay. Just why?
— Josie & the 😸😺😽 (@LoveNJosie) April 14, 2022
5. Fans of Wienerschnitzel can also relate.
kumquat – sounds like an insult but is really just an innocent fruit.
— GREY 1769 (@GREY_1769) April 13, 2022
6. This silent G needs to resign.
I don’t like the word “signage”. Maybe it’s the two Gs pronounced differently, or that you can usually just say “sign”. pic.twitter.com/Dr7t8rbg0J
— Lindsay Britts (@lindsaystweets) April 14, 2022
7. This word is playing some kind of trick on us, right?
Mischievous.
Sounds better when you pronounce it “miss-CHEE-vee-us”, which goes against its spelling, not “MISS-cheh-vus”.
— Joey (for #DCstatehood) (@JoeySchmittPhD) April 13, 2022
8. It’s all just a bunch of … well, you know!
Bologna…. I mean, c’mon!
— Miss_Stefanie (@Miss__Stefanie) April 14, 2022
9. You’re excused if you can’t spell these. Tell them we said so.
Consciousness.
I spell it incorrectly every time, eventually my phone even got confused.— Brad (@RealBrad_Miller) April 14, 2022
Hyperbole. I know how it’s pronounced but every time I read it, the voice in my head says hyper-bowl
— State of Eimeargency (@_Cailin_Corcra_) April 14, 2022
10. If only we had a word to describe how we feel about nonplussed …
Nonplussed. Hands down. How can one word go so wrong?
— Robin Vercruse (@FuelingDebate) April 14, 2022
11. A silent U is a good gauge that your spelling is all kinds of messed up.
Gauge. I don’t care what its etymology is, that U is a damn interloper.
— Hannah Wallace (@HannahWallace) April 14, 2022
